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Social justice

Maryknoll missioners around the world feel the impact of social injustice and see its effects in the communities were they live and work. Flowing from their ministries of presence and accompaniment, as well as from the concrete programs and projects in which Maryknollers participate, we engage in the hard work of identifying root causes of social and economic injustice. With a particular focus on the geographical regions where Maryknoll is present, as well as on structural or systemic injustice affecting women, children, indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees and people with HIV and AIDS, we join with others of like mind to identify potential pathways to social transformation and to move our world in that direction.

With great concern for the state of the U.S. democracy, eleven national and international Catholic social justice organizations sent the following statement to Congress on the occassion of Martin Luther King Day.

On November 20, 14 Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, sent a statement to members of Congress regarding the Syrian refugee crisis and the need to welcome Syrian refugees.

Maryknoll recognizes the great importance of the publication of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the use of torture, which details terrible acts of horrific brutality.

On March 19, Guatemala's former president Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez are going to trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for massacres committed against indigenous civilians in Guatemala's Ixil triangle.

Fr. Jack Northrup reflects on his ministry in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico: "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ is constantly drawing all of us to life, no matter what bleak prisons we may have made for ourselves. Because of God’s choice to constantly offer the free gift of grace to the most needy, we can wake from our sleep, from the illusions of happiness that this world offers. At this very moment we can choose life in its fullness."

Susan Weissert, who worked as a lay missioner for many years in South America and at the Maryknoll center in New York, asks: Can we look back on our actions/words/decisions today and see that they were shaped by love of God and love of neighbor?

Former lay missioner Jean Walsh shares a reflection on her time in Oaxaca, Mexico, and how the lessons from the Oaxacan farmers' commitment to the Earth can lead us to more sustainable, integrated lives.

Sr. Luise Ahrens, who has spent many years in Cambodia, writes in this week's reflections about the challenges of living in a interconnected world ... How do we make choices that are clarified by God's wisdom? How can we live a life formed and informed by the Spirit of Jesus?

In this week's reflection, Fr. Tom Marti recalls his service in the Philippines, and that beautiful nation's efforts to reverse the devastating ecological destruction it has experienced in recent decades.